I could start off with a sucking reference, but I will refrain … oh wait! The Horde has seen its fair share of members throughout the years. One I am surprised took so long to get out was Mosquitor because I always assumed he would require very little new tooling. Well I was mostly correct on the amount of new tooling, but they waited quite some time on this guy, so I was proven wrong. I suppose the debate over whether to give us wings, blood tanks, or antennae just kept pushing back his eventual classics creation. Well he is here now so let us take a look deeper into he who is Mosquitor.

I would just like to point out something that bugs me when I go to look up the “real names” of these guys. Half of them make perfect sense and work. The other half who have obviously not had a real name prior have names that look like they were hatched from the World of Warcraft random name generator. I suppose Bliddeon Black makes perfect sense to some random four-year old who was asked what they would call this toy. Masters of the Universe real names are kind of dumb.

Stick em up!

On another note, Mosquitor! Our final monthly figure of 2012, the last $20 figure, and another Horde member. There are so many milestones here it is almost maddening. Mosquitor rounds off a pretty vintage heavy year so he has a lot of competition if he wants to win the coveted “figure of the year” distinction. He definitely borrows more from the vintage Mosquitor than he does the NECA staction figure. If you are a vintage purist you will probably be happy to see everything from the original is here except for the liquid blood in his chest. This has been replaced with a clear red insert to make it look like his chest is full of blood. The only thing you will probably be upset with is the little bug legs growing out of his back similar to Webstor and Buzz-Off.

Pow!

If you are a fan of the NECA staction figure like I am, this version might be a little more of a disappointment to you depending on what you are looking for in Mosquitor. I wouldn’t say the figure is a “disappointment” but I think there were omissions that could have easily been added to make this figure go from great to Tony the Tiger great. Now that the precedent has been set with blood tanks I feel as you can’t go back. Insect arms are fine and all, but they should be put under the blood tanks … if you don’t mind my armchair toy engineering I’m doing here.

I think Mosquitor is a very good figure with a lot done right. I just think it was one of those figures that with a little extra added could have been a great figure. What makes Fisto a great figure is that he had both is millennium and vintage look along with the giant sword he was supposed to get in the 200x series. They basically made him the quintessential Fisto. This version of Mosquitor is polarizing so it will never quite hit that legendary status. He will always be a really good figure that could have been better. Just adding the options for fans to get the blood tanks or wings would have done it for him too because then fans of either era could build their preferred version of the character. I’ve always felt that was the point of classics, but I suppose that philosophy is demonstrated on a figure-by-figure status.

I bitch a lot, but Mosquitor is still actually a really cool toy. One thing that has always drawn me to him is his unique head which has been perfectly transitioned from vintage to classics. He has a great color scheme as it is really hard to go wrong with red and black. He also includes a few new parts mixed with some strategic reuse. His biceps and his lower legs are all completely new. I really like the shins and feet because they give him a really large base to get a good center of gravity. The metal, almost robotic looking, feet just look cool as well.

That’s a nice beak there pal, been thinking about upgrading myself …

Obviously Mosquitor’s chest overlay is new as well and holds both his insect bits and the chest blood. I’m going to put the chest part as a “miss” mostly because it is just a flat red which does the job, but maybe putting a bubble or two in there might have illustrated the point better. The insect parts are a “hit” for me however since we do not have any wings or blood-tanks to stick back there. I’m sure there are some vintage purists that are driven nuts by the inclusion, and much like Fisto’s back sheath it can not be removed without leaving a large crater. But I dig it, so as a customer I am happy, but you have been warned that it is there.

Mosquitor is a very nice figure to close out the year with. I’m sure he’s been a pretty big fan want for a while now and the Horsemen just about nailed everything about him except the omission of some 200x parts. Those are probably more on Mattel than them though as I’m sure they would have been glad to add them. Hopefully if you had a 2012 subscription your order did not get delayed and you will have a Mosquitor of your own to enjoy this holiday season.

If for some reason you did not get Mosquitor and I have changed your feeble mind, then I suggest grabbing him off of Amazon.